Movie Review: ‘So Connected’

One of the marks of a great movie is that it makes the moviegoers think, analyze, and connect the dots on their own. The movie should never reveal everything instantly without first making them figure out these five questions: Who, What, Where, When, and Why?

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‘So Connected’ by Regal Entertainment, Inc. is one such movie that offers those above challenges to moviegoers. That is why I can say ‘So Connected’ is a great movie.

Movie plots can sometimes be convoluted, confounding, and confusing at times. The plot of ‘So Connected’ manages to avoid that common pitfall. It drops the moviegoer, not in the very beginning of the crossing of paths of Trisha (portrayed by Janella Salvador) and Karter (portrayed by Jameson Blake), but in the closing parts of their respective past relationships with their exes. Only a little bit of the backstories of their previous failed relationships are shown, thus leaving the moviegoers to wonder and reflect on what exactly had gone wrong and why those relationships ended.

The pacing of ‘So Connected’ is well executed and done with fluid transitioning from one scene to the next. This movie does not lag or have points wherein you feel like there are unnecessary scenes that should not have been included at all when its final editing was done.

The cinematography of ‘So Connected’ is vibrant, eye-catching, and bursting with lush and rich colors, but only when it was necessary. From a room fully lit showing everything clearly inside it, to a dark and gloomy and mysterious tunnel where the characters Trisha and Karter were passing through, those two opposite scenes are presented with perfect balance. The “color treatment” of this movie is a visual feast for the moviegoer.

Plus, for those who do not discern this, the night and day settings of this movie ‘So Connected’ were dependent on the mood and the feelings of the characters portrayed by the two lead actors, Janella Salvador and Jameson Blake. Those were a nice subtle yet intricate touch right there giving ‘So Connected’ an “atmospheric vibe” about it.

Now, onto Janella Salvador and Jameson Blake.

Janella Salvador has a rare and inherent quality about her that not a lot of her contemporaries coming from any age group possesses. What is it? It is that she can make any of her pairing and onscreen partnership work – regardless of who her co-actor is and whether he be her real friend or not, or even one she has not worked with in the past. The point is Janella Salvador can work with any actor; she can never be limited to only one pairing and onscreen partnership.

Plus, I have observed and noted that depending on who Janella Salvador is partnered with, she manages beautifully to tweak, modify, and adjust her own acting style to best fit and blend cohesively with her onscreen partner as she has shown and proven in all of her movies. Brilliant acting is what Janella Salvador is becoming known for and she does it very, very well – and consistently.

Jameson Blake is what I would call a real guy. Meaning, he is a manly enough figure on the big screen for Janella Salvador. In the movie ‘So Connected’ his character Karter can curse and get away with it and no one would be offended or question why he had cursed. Why so? It is because the cursing was necessary and appropriate so that whatever emotion Karter was going through in the scene would come across effectively. That provided a feeling of authenticity and relatability to his dialogue and lines in the script. C’mon, let us get real here! Everyone curses and says bad words when he is angry, upset, frustrated, disappointed, furious. In these scenes, Jameson Blake’s acting was put to a test, and he hurdled and passed it convincingly.

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The acting of Jameson Blake is quite good for a newcomer. That was the very first impression I got while watching his performance in ‘So Connected’. It will be very interesting to see where his acting career will take him after his impressive showing in this movie and how he had managed to hold his own with the likes of a Janella Salvador who is one of the very best actresses today.

As an onscreen pair, Janella Salvador and Jameson

Blake appeared and felt more natural, believable, and relatable to moviegoers and their respective fans. They are a cool match for each other onscreen. There is something there that is intangible and worth exploring more between the two of them. They are very complementary to each other.

In my opinion, ‘So Connected’ should have received an ‘A’ rating classification.

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